Mani Pruek is about 2 hours north of Nan, and for that reason not visited by many riders.
Not many trails on the numerous maps I have checked, however, Marco at Siam Garden Bungalows knew more than the maps. He is an Italian gone native to Tung Chang.

I managed to convince Brian to come up to Nan and give Nan a try. I don’t think he regretted that.
We stayed 2 nights at Siam Garden Bungalows in Tung Chang. The dirt trails starts just behind the bungalows. Perfect place to stay. And the home cooked Italian food was out of this world!
Marco told us about 2 trails up in the mountain he had heard about from the locals, and we went to look for those as well as just having fun.

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Fuel for the bikes and fuel for the riders. Yes. We did put the bikes in the van..

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The “rape” of Nan continues.

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Nice place to cool down just before Songkran starts.

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Rolling hills of farm land. I guess the jungle will eventually reclaim the land, but the pesticide and herbicide used will cause all kind problems for the locals. Ground water will be destroyed for generations to come.

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A little side track to Doi Phu Ka’s “Mini Phu Chi Fa’. Some rain the night before cleared the air a bit.

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The locals preparing for the rain season. This one with snow chains..

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And this one with nobbies.

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30 years ago they did not grow cabbage here, the cash crop they grew in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s where… You guessed it.

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This is where the track from Pang Kee joins the track from Mani Pruek to Ban Nam Lat.

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We came across a couple of nice streams and used them to cool down a bit.

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No one came around to tell us what this parking lot was good for.

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Due to the “slash&burn” in Nan flooding has become a problem in Nan. We saw several projects like this. Nan is now the worst affected province for this big business slash&burn.Bangkok Post

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Another nice stream.

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One more.

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A new dam and Brian congratulate them with work well done!

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Beautiful tracks everywhere.

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Back in Nan after 5 days of riding.

Thanks Brian for coming up, and thanks for sharing pictures.
Some pictures is not from the Mani Pruek area.

Staff Member

Great stuff Oddvar & Brian.
Nan really is a fantastic province to ride in; its just a shame about the deforestation.

I recall my first rides up onto Doi Phukha from Pua to just before the Chomphu Phukha tree, there was still a lot of forest around; but once the road was linked up to the other side at Bo Klua all the lowlanders (Thai) started coming up to see what the could get from the forest, encouraging the mountain people to supply produce for them. The deforestation accelerated rapidly once there was good road access.

That whole area has a fantastic history with communist caves & battles & is well worth exploring if it ever was.